Keeping five Teenagedsuicidalpilots alive
by The Master Weaponsmith
Summary: the g-boys always seem to come out of impossible death-defying situations, often while unconscious! The secret to this trick is not in the training, but in the hiring of a adept guardian who's got an attitude of her own
1. Is Two EVER Three?

G-Wing is not mine.  
  
"Young lady, may I speak to you for a minute?"  
  
The old man didn't look particularly threatening upon first glance. Upon second glance she wondered weather it was smarter to run and scream or just run. Mechanical arm, some odd type of glasses that if possible looked like they had been partly absorbed into his face and a black car behind him with the door open. Never talk to strangers.  
  
"It will only take a minute and you might get something out of it."  
  
Stick and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me. She shrugged and stepped towards the car. Mechanical arms might though.  
  
"It's actually a business proposition."  
  
Sold! She ducked into the back seat of the car.  
  
She listened with amused interest as the old man, who's introduced himself as Doctor J. Doctor of what psychology? Gave her a very thorough history lesson on the governmental and diplomatic status of the colonies and the earth sphere. Who calls it the Earth SPHERE? It was a very interesting story, full of good leaders, evil assassins, evil plotters, evil generals, evil armies, good doctors, and evil organizations. All in all, all it was missing were the dragons. She told him as much and he chuckled, seeming to know something. Weirdo.  
  
"Now .."  
  
"My name is Evane."  
  
"Now Ahvane."  
  
"Evane."  
  
"Eevane, dose it sound to you like there is more good or more evil?"  
  
What a stupid question. "More evil."  
  
"Yes, there is. Would you like to help even the odds?"  
  
Odds are never even! Is two ever three? "Okay."  
  
"I could teach you to help the good side, to help free the colonies."  
  
Probably more interesting than wandering. "Okay."  
  
He grinned. "Great, we'll get started right away." 


	2. How time flies

****

Years Later…

"Avane!-"

"EEEvane. Yes?"

"We've finally got a completion date? May 15!"

"Okay. I suppose you'll want them to be done by then?"

"Yes, if at all possible."

"What about the upgrades though? The space-friendly changes we made on the blueprints?"

"We'll have to do those later, keep working on them though."

"Okay."

****

May 15…

"Avane?"

__

Evane. "All systems green, the other four have already taken off and are on their way, shouldn't we send him already?"

"One moment I have to tell him one last thing, besides he can catch up easily."

__

No thanks to you. "What are you going to tell him anyway?"

"A code name, and last minute instructions."

The doctor descended to the hanger via the elevator. She watched aimlessly from behind the tinted control windows, unclad feet propped up on the newly emptied chair. The doctor conversed a bit with the pilot before waddling back behind one of the steel doors. A video screen to her left flicked to life. The Doctor materialized.

"Okay send him on his way."

She nodded. _Finally!_ The headset on the control pad slid onto her head easily. Her hands subconsciously manned the controls as she relayed the flight status to the cockpit of the craft. "Area sealed, all systems green, airlock opening. Bay door clear, clearance for take off." The engines heated to white hot, it shot out through the open hanger doors becoming indeterminable in moments. _That's why we have radar._ _Well tracking devices anyway._

The screen portrayed five dots steadily moving at a blue green circle. The door hissed open behind her.

"So?"

"His code name is officially Heero Yuy."

__

That is supposed to be inconspicuous? "You WHAT?"

"It's only fitting to give him the code name for a person that will change the future?"

"It's the name of a person that died? You want to give him the same name as someone who got shot?"

"-and Heero, we must start calling him that now, will indeed change the course of the future…"

"Hello class I am your new student, coincidentally the same name as the assassinated leader of the colonies!"

"-plus it will encourage him to live up to the predecessors achievements…"

"Are you even listening to me?"

"What? Beg your pardon?"

__

Oh man! "Nothing, nothing. Well now that he's gone and we're finished I'm going to get some sleep okay?"

"You remember your duties right? The other doctors and I-"

"Will be too busy with other stuff, mainly hiding and hacking, yes I know."_ You've only told me a million times._

"Very well then, you've as hard as the rest of us on them, get some sleep. I'll wake you should anything happen."

"Okay then. G'night."

She stuffed her feet into worn sneakers and trudged out of the control room. Into the elevator and down a corridor to one of the many faceless doors. She punched the access code and walked in. A simple bed of mussed covers and a pillow with a impression in the middle from many nights of use. She kicked off the sneakers noting their positions as they bounced along the floor and wriggled into the covers. They had been working like crazy to get the outer shell finished on time and she hadn't slept a good ten hours in weeks. She inhaled the scent of her pillow and sighed.

A familiar hiss raised her hackles. _GoAway GoAway GoAway GoAway!_

"Avane?" _Evane._

"Time to work."

She stuffed her face into the pillow. "You've gotta be kidding."


	3. Swimming swimming

She was clad in clean blue jeans and an off white sweatshirt when she reemerged in the control room. Her old sneakers squeaked on the metal floor. _Not yet an hour out and they're in trouble already?_ The other four doctors were visible on two way video screens. She gave them a tired wave.

"Now what?" she muttered angrily. Then louder. "Which one?"

Doctor J didn't bother turning around in his chair. "Heero, actually. Hee hee, and you predicted he would be the least trouble. No doubt you are disappointed?"

He should have been for all that training. "Oh, dear. My pride and joy has… sunk himself in the ocean. Well that was bright."

"He wasn't thinking he w-" 

"Obviously! Otherwise he wouldn't have sunk into the ocean, taking a multi billion dollar piece of equipment with him!" She took a deep breath. _Don't get angry, probably not his fault, some error, easily fixed._ _Jerk._ "Okay, according to gundanium's impact tolerance it easily survived and should have shed that leo in the process. Who's in the area who can pick it up?"

Five pairs of eyes turned to her. She sighed. "Oh man."

There wasn't enough time to take one of the civilian flights but they had another plane with space earth capabilities stored there as well. It was supposed to take her to earth later, when she could inconspicuously enter the atmosphere but hey, what was five days? _One hundred-twenty hours of sleep, reading, and free time._ She popped open the cockpit and closed it behind her. Seatbelt, always important. The docking doors opened before her filling the view with inky blackness speckled with stars and a very large glowing green blue sphere. Ignition and engines to full…

Earth increased in size rapidly as she neared. The gundam had fallen to the bottom of the ocean after an attack by an Oz craft. All mobile suits were taken care of by the pilot. "Kudos to you for clean up." She could easily waft through the atmosphere in the debris that was already filtering down. The oz craft had left the scene long ago thankfully. 

Entry was tricky, but expected and she held firm to the controls while the plane passed through the atmosphere. Suddenly the sea stretched out before her impossibly large. She passed through a cloud and set a course for the pilot. Upon impact he had been ejected from the cockpit, a major flaw in the programming. Should it have happened in battle the consequences would be unfixable. However it had proved invaluable in this scenario, she didn't have gear for deep sea diving and she certainly wouldn't be happy to try fitting his unconscious body into deep sea gear either. His body was some twenty feet under water, moving slightly with the tides. Shore was only several hundred meters away, just out of sight and they were due west in front of a soon to be setting sun. No plane, she would have to drag him. She had brought scuba gear, on the other hand.

Five hundred feet from his body she ejected, after setting an auto pilot to a safe house she had already established. Impact was a jarring shock, the water was very cold, even through her waterproof suit. She shed the seat that had inevitably popped out of the plane with her and popped the oxygen mouthpiece in. _Swimming swimming…_

She found him easily, he hadn't moved much since the last figure she'd received on the plane and his bright yellow-orange suit stood out, just a little. She grabbed the nape of his spacesuit and started to paddle. Heero, she had to remember to call him that, was the most temperamental of the group. Either in a solid block of self confidence and assurance or more lost than a kitten that woke up in the ventilation shafts. He was Doctor J's charge, trainee, and personal favorite. Naturally, if he wasn't then Doctor J wouldn't be training him. She saw the most of him since she worked with Doctor J the most and had observed him to be: quiet, obedient, completely obsessed with programming, and guns. _Probably why Doctor J likes him._ He was also pig headed to an extreme. _Another thing he has in common with Doctor J._

A sever perfectionist and dedicated to the cause to the point of suicide. _Speaking of which…_ She paused in the water and pried open the emergency self destruct that had come with the space suit. Water flooded the circuits. _It won't matter, but just in case. _Where was she? Extremely independent, self relying. She was really surprised when he had required 'intervention' not an hour into the job, she hadn't really expected it of any of them but still…

The sea floor came into sight and she began to feel the pull of the waves. She risked poking her head above the water. _No one for a while yet, next person is what half a mile away?_ She planted her flippered feet into the sand and dragged him the last few feet up onto the sand. If all turned out well he would wake up before the tide dragged him out again. The person had closed three fourths of the distance and would have to notice them in a minute. 

She tapped the visor on his helmet. "Be nice, and polite, mind your manners." She giggled before wobbling a few steps and dove into the sun lit waters. _Guard my back sun glare!_

Safe in the water she watched the girl, _she's wearing a skirt she better be female,_ find him, and run for help to the phone on top of the wall. Just before the ambulance arrived to take the injured boy to the hospital he woke up. The girl, was kneeling with him at the time and had already taken off his helmet and was examining him. The first thing he did was leap to his feet and cover his face. _It's not like that'll make her forget the last ten minutes she spent examining it._

Next he flipped open the pad on his left chest… _I am a psychic! _The self destruct device crackled and popped a fraction of it's intended capacity, which succeeded in knocking him backwards a good five feet. The ambulance was there by then and he stole it. After inflicting bruises on all of the crew, even the driver! Thankfully out of the entire string of mistakes, acting conspicuous, asking questions with obvious answers, hurting civilians, and in the first case leaving witnesses. Everything his training had taught him not to do, he did manage to get one thing right. He drove the ambulance on the right side of the road. _Well, the day wasn't a complete failure._ She swam away towards the safe house and her chairless plane.


	4. Home Sweet home

Her base of operations was a simple two story planted in a small clearing in the forest on the edge of sea lined cliffs. It had two bathrooms, three bedrooms not counting the master bedroom, and no furniture. _I wonder if they think a teenaged girl going out and buying thousands of dollars of furniture is inconspicuous. _The plane was hidden in a hanger that opened off the side of the cliff. The massive door that was artistically created to resemble the cliff and therefore fool radar that might notice a gaping square in the side of a cliff. There was also a full set of tools down there for fixing mechanical things, primarily the gundams, but no computers. The only electrical operating thing was the lights.

The house was really well secluded, a dirt driveway and a small dirt path through dense forest to the edge of a back road. _In the middle of nowhere._ _No wonder why they laughed when I asked for a private location. Old men have horrid senses of humor. _Not one car in the five minutes that she waited and watched in the frail hope that she might get some indication of the direction of the town. In the end she wound up checking the road systems through the computer back in the base. Town was seven miles down a complex network of back roads, she printed it out since she didn't think even her talented mind could remember the maze of small roads and started walking.

A virtual metropolis was the city. She easily found a mall with those wonderful department stores that sold everything. First thing was first, a bed, then kitchen junk. _I can survive with just a microwave for a while. _A chair and desk, and another more comfortable couch just for sitting in. They let her ride in the moving truck as she directed them to where her house was. She didn't yet know the address and they would have gotten lost anyway. _I live in the boondocks!_

She carried the microwave and her handbag as they struggled with couch up the stairs. They also carried up the desk, but she dismissed them after, claiming she could get the chair up herself. Shortly after she made her way down to the hanger and retrieved the hover board from the chairless plane. _Stupid, why didn't I think of it before._ She rode it back into the city and tucked it into her handbag on the outskirts. They was only one in existence and she wanted it to stay in her possession. She purchased a few more items and headed back for the night. _My first day on earth and my first meal is…_ She studied the label sarcastically. _Easy-mix macaroni. _The rest of the boxes of assorted add-water food were shoved into an empty cabinet above the microwave, and she handwashed the bowl before heading upstairs. She had remembered to buy shampoo, conditioner and soap at the store, but the idea of a towel had evaded her. As had the idea of drapes or blinds. _If there's anyone out there I'll hunt them down and gouge out their eyes._ She curled up on the couch to sleep with another blanket wrapped around her. She hadn't had enough arms to carry sheets and pillows back from the stores.

She set up a laser sensor across a meadow that he had just passed through. Pilot 03 was headed towards the circus tents, she had exactly three minutes once the beam was broken. She linked up the small signal to her laptop and raced back to Heavy arms. Due to the inability of OZ troops to shoot straight and Trowa Barton's _for the record _tendency to wade into things severe foot damage had been taken. She grabbed her tools and began removing the outer armor. 

The harsh beep almost made her miss the connection. _He's back already? Damn I'm not finished yet! _ She hastily soldered the most important connections, mainly the ones that would ensure movement and began fixing the outer gundanium plates on. She twirled the last bolt and scooped her tools into the backpack, snapping her laptop closed and sticking it under her arm. About twenty seconds to get away. _He's a gundam pilot, he'll hear me if I run…Hide! The truck!_

She rolled under the main body and wedged herself between the bed of the truck and the axle. _Damn this is uncomfortable. Lemme get in a good position before he arrives._ White pants appeared through the bushes, shaking them only a little and making hardly any sound. They circled around the truck a little bit before climbing up on top of it. The cockpit opened with a hiss and she could hear the hum of the computers starting up. _If the gundam's on I definitely won't be able to get away due to the motion sensors. _The brown shoes reappeared and to her annoyance they wandered over to the gundam's feet. The toe shield was delicately placed on the ground. _I'm gonna be here for a while._

She had rejected the thought of working on her laptop. Even if she turned the sound off he might notice the illumination off the ground. She had brought no books to read, it was too dark to read anymore either. She watched the feet wander back to the toolbox on the ground and the pilot sift through the various wrenches, pliers, screwdrivers and drills. She shifted slightly as he dug beneath the top layer of equipment so that the backpack of her own would jingle in time and hopefully he wouldn't notice it. He retracted a pair of needle nose pliers at the same time something in her backpack decided to realign itself.

He froze.

__

Damn. She gripped the axle in one hand and braced the other across the backpack to prevent more movement. _Don't breathe too loud!_ A gun appeared in her vision and she turned away as the pilot knelt hoping that her dark brown hair would hide her somewhat, better than her face for sure. _Thank goodness I wore black today. Female intuition don't fail me about the hide-under the truck decision._ She held her breathe and tried to keep perfectly still, even suppress the rise and fall of her chest that might attract attention. She breathed only when the snap of the pliers announced he was working on the gundam again. She sighed but relaxed only a little. She left a while after he did, gathering her lasers from the clearing as she went. As a last minute whim she decided to watch the performance.

He was in the knife throwing act. With Cathrine Bloom the knife thrower of the circus. He was dressed as a clown, wearing only half a mask. The pilot had a very large bang that hid his right eye from view, mask also covered that side of his face thankfully or it would seem as if he didn't have any eyes. He was very unemotional, just like pilot 01. His lack of fright seemed to amuse and then agitate Cathrine Bloom a little bit, enough to send her off aim slightly. Her last knives cut the side of his face, causing a small trickle of blood to run down past his ear. _Of course he didn't move being a gundam pilot and all._ She clapped and cheered with the rest of the crowd as they bowed.

She followed the crowd only as far as the exit, where she slipped into the shadows of the tents and headed towards the prep area. Following him. She crouched close to the edge of the tent when she heard his-their voices. Pilot 03 and Cathrine, the knife thrower arguing.

"Why didn't you dodge the knife Trowa!?!"

It was short, but packed with vital information. Cathrine Bloom had managed to earn his slight concern. Sure she was worried about him, she had practically stabbed him with a knife! _I would be sorry too._ However more important than her concern _although it was kinda cute_ was his concern. He was trying to raise a wall before she could attach herself to him or himself to her. Preventing the bonds of friendship in the event that he would not return. However it seemed that it was too late.

She watched with growing interest as he went into the same trailer to sleep. Awfully late for something like walls. _More work, just what I need._ She would have to learn more about Cathrine Bloom as well now, by intimate relations to one of the pilots that made her a weakness, a flaw in their psyche. _Too late to kill her, which would prevent future situations._ No, she would have to watch over the circus throwing knife star as well. _What an interesting confrontation if she found out._ Dinner was eazy-mac again.


	5. Free Supplies and Stolen Wrenches

__

Chapter 5

They're getting careless. She listened as the arms dealers counted out the money 05 Wufei Chang had paid them for the ammunition. He should have realized mercenaries sell info too. As they were discussing now in their warehouse. They were trying to decide if it was better to notify the alliance or OZ of the large purchase of MS arsenal fire. _Interrogation and death or… interrogation and death._ The choices had the same result for the pilot either way. She clicked the safety off her gun and replaced it the left holster. She silently crept along the rafters of the roof. _Shooting is so messy, and raises too many questions. It'll be so much easier if say they die of drug overdose perhaps?_ She stopped above their pot of soup, removed her other gun from the right holster and took aim. A thin stream of the black market's latest landed in the boiling pot with scarcely a splash. She waited for all of them to eat a spoonful. _With at least 10cc even diluted in a two gallon pot, one spoonful will be more than enough._

By the time her feet touched the steel floor they were already poisoned enough by the hallucinogen they didn't notice her touch down just outside their ring. She led them to a nearby park before they became completely incompetent and left them. There was a slight possibility that they would live, severely impaired but alive all the same. They would not of course remember about their ammunition stores, or the money which Wufei had paid for it. Plus she needed some extra cash so it all worked out well, they were much safer now if they survived and she had extra supplies. _A car! Don't forget the car!_

A truck rather. But it was probably more helpful than a regular car, having more storage space and easier to get down the dirt road to her house with. Of course that didn't matter, what did was the size of the engine under the hood and how much she could pep it up by just tweaking a few things. _I'll have it going 140 in no time! Yeah!_

She took the truck and the money with her when she traveled back to her house. The warehouse's address started a list of resources she had yet to tap. She checked her computer for updates on the pilots.

Gundams Deathsythe and Wing were at the bottom of the harbor.

Wing in disrepair.

Heero imprisoned in military hospital.

Dorlin's daughter had brought him there.

Duo was going to launch an escape.

She grabbed the vid-phone and dialed Howard. _Ye gods, he hasn't changed at all. Still got horrid taste._ "Hi Howard, I hear you've got a job on your hands, want some assistance?"

Howard scratched his head and grinned. "I suppose you've got some kind of sixth sense for this sorta thing." He chuckled.

She grinned back, _perhaps. _"Na, my computer's just up to date. So you'll be over the harbor around six or so?"

She plopped a tool box on the deck and still carrying her bag of necessities headed for the hammocks to junk it in a dark corner. On her way back topside she paused inside the control room to see their progress. Duo experience with a crane was evident as he easily pulled Wing to the surface. _Gods above._ She groaned and hid her face in a hand, shaking her head.

__

He destroyed it! It's ruined and he only just piloted it through the atmosphere! Deathsythe was in much better condition only lacking in a few rounds and scratched up slightly. _Duo's so much more cautious. _Her eyes drifted from the gundams to their pilots. As soon as she caught sight of them she ran to the window and pressed against it in anguish. _NO! Put back that wrench this instant! BAKA!_ She groaned and scratched at the window in pent up frustration. She walked to the door and closed it, sealing off the control room. "JERK!!!" "THAT'S MY FAVORITE IF YOU DO ANYTHING I'LL…"

She opened the door and stepped into the corridor. Two techies leapt back from just outside the doorway, sweat dripped down the collar of one while the other did his best to lock his eyes on the floor. _You better worry, if I catch you eavesdropping again… _She grinned and flashed her teeth before she strode down the corridor without looking back. _Silly nosy techies. _They raced into the control room as soon as she had disappeared from sight, collapsing into chairs. As soon as she was out of sight she sighed loudly and then began laughing hysterically. _Intimidation is power!_


	6. Info is Power, and rather fun to control

Chapter 6

Thanks to:

Lorimlowe2: More is coming right up.

Writingsoul: *Evane brandishes stick* "Heero that baka! Duo or Trowa if anyone."

Nameless Warrior of Darkness: I'm glad you think so!

Dark-sephiroth: Posting now, no worries be happy!

Seiryu: You know how much I value you opinion being tapestry's author and all I'm glad I've got your approval!

Howard paused next to her as she methodically checked the circuits on an electrical board with a pair of probes. Her recovered tool kit minus one size twenty two wrench was delicately positioned between her and the wall. 

"Great planning Avane, I'd wouldn't have guessed we'd need this many repair supplies. Heero really wreaked it landing it and all."

She delicately touched two opposite ends of a wire with the negative and positive probes, the small needle in the electrical sensor to which they were attached flicked to "No current". _Avane Howard?_

"I'm sorry Howard, but Avane's not here right now. If you leave a message with me I'll be sure to tell her."

"Oh, right, sorry E-Vane, didn't mean to do that."

"Oh so it was me you were talking to? Thank you then."

"Great insight too, where in the world did you manage to scrape together all that gundanium though? The gundams took years to get just the plate armor, really nice planning, real nice, real nice."

__

Well duh, I planned it. She snipped the two ends of the wire off and sorted through electrical gear for the spares. _Ah here it is!_ She pulled out a small conductor and delicately dribbled the ends with solder before sticking it to the board.

"Anyhow, I was wondering. Where are ya getting all the stuff. I mean you've only been on earth for what a couple of days?"

She tapped the new connection, it held firm. _Yippee all done! _"Sorry Howard, secrets of the trade. But I'll give you a hint, look for the rooms marked storage. They usually have good stuff." She waved her pointer and middle fingers in the air, then twisted the peace sign slightly tilting her head insync. "Talk to ya later, don't forget to give them the new board now that it's fixed."

__

Howard's bonkers if he thinks I'd give away that kinda information. She peeped through the open doorway as she passed, noting the disarray of Wing, and flinching slightly at the mangled armor. _What a looser, and a Gundam's practically the toughest thing in existence right now. Besides that block of bread Dr. J tried to make. _She wandered into the bunk area and picked a hammock hanging at a good angle to watch the door from. She grabbed a blanket and stretched out, pulling the coarse fabric over shoulders. She lay quietly for a little bit, faking sleep long enough that the other bunkers would be convinced. When sufficient time had passed she twisted her wrist and quietly popped off the cover of her watch. A mini computer blinked to life. She pulled out the small antenna that was hidden under the stop knob. The latest missions from the doctors waited to be forwarded to the pilots. She grinned slyly as she sent the same mission to both pilots on the ship, in effect tomorrow she set the satellite cameras for a lock on them and curled up to sleep.

"Ahhhhhhhhh!"

She jerked bolt upright accidentally whacking her head on the person above her. She patted the bruised lump. "Sorry." She called cheerfully. _Awfully soft… O damn! _It was actually the guy's rear she had rammed her head into and was currently touching. She jerked back her hand and leapt off the hammock, covering her head and crimson face with the blanket while she ran from the room.

As soon as she was in the safety of the hallway she raced into the hanger. _What was that scream? It sounded like one of the pilots, probably duo._ She stopped dead as soon as she crossed the threshold. Deathsythe's head was laying disconnected on the floor along with the remains of an arm and the legs. It was lacking all the parts she had brought for wing. _DAMN THAT BOY! _ She did a 360 and raced back down the corridors to refit the pieces for deathsythe. _Just for this I'm gonna get Duo to accomplish the mission!_ Howard chucked as she entered the door but the seething look that met his stopped the laugh cold.


	7. Assassination and gourmet ketchup

Chapter 7

Yay more reviewers!

Pogo and Enyos: Thanks so much for reviewing! I'm glad you think it's original. It's really what I aim for.

_I swear I must have made record time rebuilding that gundam. They're a whole lot harder to design then they are to fix. _So now she sat back and watched Duo and Heero duke it out at the base. It got sort of tense when they stood there aiming the buster rifle and arm shield at each other. Then Pilot 01 altered his aim and shot a leo preparing to shoot the Deathsythe. Heero laughed and claimed he had paid sufficiently for the parts before taking off. Duo watched him fly away threatening retribution. She could tell they were going to be the best of friends, or rivals at least.

It was funny, she had to admit, what heero did. She would have had to kill him if he had destroyed the deathsythe, actually then he couldn't pilot. She wouldn't kill him, she'd just beat him within an inch of his life. However what he had done was to say the least, horrendously amusing. So she decided to give him a break and sent through orders for him to transfer. That Dorlin girl was getting way to close to him. During Pilot 02's original attempt to surface Wing she had almost seen it, she also knew the faces of two of the pilots and had the oddest heroin fascination with heero. Whom she had taken to the military hospital where he was imprisoned. Seeing as that their mission and existence were supposed to be _secret_ which by nature meant few people knowing the truth about, she was a danger to the entire operation.

Friday night, she should go out somewhere, treat herself to a break. Somewhere fun in town or something. A club perhaps? _After dinner._ She grabbed the remote and turned on the TV while she ripped open a box of Ramen. _I've upgraded finally!_ The new pot was set on the burners as she hunted for chopsticks to stir it with.

__

"…insiter Dorlin and other colony officials assassinated on colony…"

She spun towards the screen. _Assassinated? _She stared in horror as the broadcast played back the explosion of the conference room exploding. _When? When did that happen?_

__

"…moments after the foreign minister arrived, his daughter Relena is alive and back home at this moment. Miss Relena what do you think this means? Miss Relena?"

The camera's turned away as tall cast iron gates closed behind the pink limo. _Pink eww._ She hadn't found out about this until now? And it had happened a good seven hours ago! This was unheard of! She should have known immediately but…but… _But I was too preoccupied with fixing the gundams, the irregular 'excessive damage' done to the gundams. Now that Foreign minister Dorlin is gone she's no longer expendable. Especially now that she probably knows, Dorlin always claimed that he would tell her before he died…although he probably didn't expect to go so soon… _

Relena Dorlin also had to be protected now, from numerous things including Heero, who had threatened to kill her. It was unlikely, but still a possibility. _Just what I need another charge to baby-sit. _They were both at the school now, she should… check on them. An e-mail from a friend.

On the colonies while she was working with the doctors she had looked up other 'helpers' and 'aides' that were in positions similar to hers. In other words other spies. She had joined the League of the Shadows, a simple spy group that helped each other out so to speak. They also aided each other with the work so that they all got good reports. The doctors had no idea of the League, but she thrived with it. In fact if she remembered correctly there was a League hangout somewhere around the city, a café or dance club or something where she could go after setting everything to rights here.

Her friend was one such spy, intelligence working for OZ. Carriers were headed to assassinate Relena. She deleted the message with out a thought, all things considered Heero would rise to fight them regardless of their objectives. It wasn't necessary to order him to protect the girl, he would do that as a favor probably, she did take him to the hospital and the boy had this incredibly amusing sense of debts. Almost as severe as Relena's brother's sense of honor. Completely irregular and beyond sanity.

She did a quick routine check on the other pilots. Quatre and Trowa were currently at the same place. Odd. She checked up on their tracing chips. Unbeknownst to them but beknownst to her she had secretly implanted traces inside them during her visits to upgrade their gundams before the operation had started. They were under the influence of heavy sedatives at the time _drugged out of their minds _though so they had no clue. The method, a _really sharp knife and skin tape to keep the wound closed during a week of intense practice simulations, _she had used left little to no scar. The entire chip itself was overlaid with a smooth shell-like cup _made of real bone to fool x rays! _Was fitted directly over one of the spine's lumps to keep it inconspicuous. The implant was just under the skin protruding just a tiny bit more than the other spine lumps.

She replayed the cameras and watched the two pilots fight and then make peace with each other before finally returning to one of Quatre's many mansions to recuperate after the battle. She hacked into the security camera's that practically coated the mansion. The Winner heir was practicing on his favorite violin, brought with him from the colonies. It was a piece she didn't recognize. Trowa was watching from the edge of the room. In a sudden turn of events the taller boy walked over to the instrument cabinet and removed a flute before joining in on the piece. _Since when does he play a flute?_

Wufei was meditating again. _Boring boy is his new nickname._

She searched out the addresses of the local League hangouts. There were two actually, a café and a night club. _Right on both accounts!_ It wasn't a café time of day so she changed into black pants and a black shirt with silver sparkle before grabbing a black leather coat. The uniform of the shadow at night was all black during the day it was jeans. The League never wore short sleeved shirts, it was part of the initiation to cut off your sleeves. The other part was to hack into McDonallds database and get free food for a monster party that commenced with the arrival of the food. She had topped the McDonallds and also ordered from several higher catering companies _Fast food is great but nothing tops gourmet ketchup_.

She rode the hoverbord to the edge of the city from where she took a bus to _Midnight Enticement. What were they thinking when they named the place?_


	8. Tall dark and sleeveless?

Chapter 8

Midnight Enticement was boiling with motion. She made her way to the second story balcony where all the tables were and easily spotted the small side area of tables where Leaguies gathered. The obvious slices of skin between the shirts and long gloves, scarf wraps and the sleeveless coats where your arms stayed inside were obvious only to the eye looking for just that.

Seven tables formed a sort of three by three with an opening on one side and in the middle. She strode directly to one of the back corner tables where she saw a previous acquaintance.

"Sibian, long time no see." She greeted sidling next to the chocolate haired brunette with red tipped hair.

"Avane. What do you want?"

__

What did you call me? "That's Evane dearest." She corrected, emphasizing her name with a sharp pressure to a still fading bruise on the other girl's forearm.

__

Sibian monitored the rebel circuit. I had been taking inventory of one of the OZ technology centers on L7 where she was currently imprisoned. Caught as a pedestrian gotten lost on base property, so her true intent was still safe but she was supposed to be scanning it out to prepare the rebels that she was 'helping'.

To be blunt about it she used a very different tactic of helping than I did. She was the young commanding officer's girlfriend, who made suggestions at key times in the planning process. She had actually grown to care about the guy, a fatal mistake for most. She was originally supposed to protect, you didn't need to care to protect, I certainly didn't.

She wasn't a very good helper when she had started though, and gotten caught almost immediately when she had tried to sneak into the rebel's base. She had be saved by the dude's mercy though, and had felt a sort of debt to him that grew into something more. It's amazing what one can learn when the other is drunk_. Anyhow they got beyond the first name basis and with the sudden motivation she honed her skills to razor edge to help him. The closest thing to a fairy tale story I'd heard so far._

I was free in the base needing to know the technology levels, she was imprisoned knowing the technology levels. We saw in each other the kindred lack of sleeves and helped each other out, after all we were 'helpers' that's what we did. She had gotten the bruise at the base, it wasn't that long ago really.

"Evane," she winced, "right. So you sly girl, what's new with your kids?"

"Not much, they're all too brainwashed by their computers to notice me."

"From what I heard on tv it's more like triggerhappiness."

"That too I suppose, in either case they're all hunky dory. How bout you how's the boy?"

"Good, really happy bout that last op," She was referring to the base bombing which had gone successfully. "Men, they're so get up and go they forget that sometimes you got to look before leaping." She said it warmly though. "By the by, thanks for the 'adjustments' the opposition were pretty helpless once they'd realized their MS didn't work."

"No prob, needed the parts anyway."

"What did you take?"

"This and that, all the monitor screens a course, knowing my charges they put their foot through the tv every other day and replacements are hard to come by." It wasn't true of course, there's no way she could have stolen thirty some panes of glass undetected out of the compound, but it was none of Sibian's business anyway. She had actually just cut the wires connecting the joysticks to the main controls. It was the simplest and fastest way to defect a MS, if not the most permanent.

"I'm getting a drink." _Note to self, have a bar installed in house. _ Sibian followed her up to the bar ordering a drink too. They grabbed the glasses and retreated to their seats before someone took the corner, a highly valued spot in any situation, it allowed for the observance of the entire area.

"Oh, got your e-mail. Thanks for the info."

"No prob, I remembered you dealt in that sort of stuff and thought you might want to know."

"Yup, appreciate it if you keep doing that."

"Will do, grant me the same favor mind."

"Naturally, what have you heard about the New Edwards meeting by the way?"

"Fake, a set up for the gundam pilots to outright assassinate the pacifist board." The guy who had just spoken and was standing in front of their table fit the qualifications for the 'tall dark and mysterious' category. He was tall, she didn't know much about him save he was part of the League from his lack of sleeves. And frankly the strobe lights didn't reach the upper floor which was lit by faint red and purple light emanating from the bar.


	9. Seval

Chapter 9

"Didn't your mama ever tell you eavesdropping is a sin?" Sibian commented, sarcasm practically flooding the corner.

He shrugged uncaringly and sat down next to her, not shifting his relaxed slouch even after she gave him glance that would have made the most confident fidget. Seeing that the normal coldness didn't work she dropped the act. "Is there something we can do for you…"

"Seval, the pleasure's mine."

"Never heard of him, her it. Whatever you happen to be."

"Not surprising in our line of work, I haven't heard of you either."

"And you never will if I can help it."

"Oh, come on don't be so cold."

"Oh I think it's warm here, almost too warm infact. I seem to be having a sudden claustrophobia attack, excuse me."

His honeyed act dropped so fast it would have surprised her if it had ever existed at all. _He's good._ Behind the sugared lens was a cool and calculating mind with a cultured air. His trim white shirt registered as the under clothing of an OZ officer's uniform and the sleek pressed pants that of a high up official. He had power, almost as much as her. "Miss Sibian, may I speak to Miss Evane for a moment? Privately?"

She sent Sibian a glance that coolly told the girl she knew where to kick if it came down to it. Sibian slid off the wraparound chair and disappeared into the masses of people at the bar. She turned her attention to the new and unpredicted element. He was a threat, and one with a brain at that so he had to be taken lightly. He also knew more about her than she did about him, first names to start the list.

"What can I do for you?" She asked professionally.

"Information, you run the Gundam ring I run the OZ ring, particularly special ops under Treize Kushrenada. Frankly our opposing positions make each other valuable assets, you understand."

"I know of what you speak, and yes it does. What sort of information are you willing to trade?"

"OZ plans."

"For what? Information like that is a very very pricey gift normally, what are you asking for in payment?"

"For now, lets just say that in the aristocratic world quite a few gatherings require companions. I would rather have someone with a brain accompany me rather than a doll that rearranges my words and feeds them back to me."

That was the escort arrangement of the League that was most common. Perfectly acceptable, plus access to Romefeller's little gatherings would be a great way to gather first hand info.

"Agreed, notify me at least three days in advance with the info as well as dress requirements." She offered her hand in a shake and he took it firmly. It was a deal said and done.


	10. Secretarial Duties

Chapter 10

When she got home the satellites had some very disturbing footage for her. They had recorded the battle at the boarding school. Heero had risen to the occasion as normal, however… 

__

"Heero! I know that's you in there!" She stared at the screen watching the two inch tall girl unnerve the trained assassin. "What the hell is he doing?"

Heero saved her, this was good. She recognized him as the pilot, this was bad. He decided that she was a threat to the mission knowing his identity as the pilot to the gundam Wing. He attempted to kill her. He failed. In order from worst to best his failing was worst and realizing she was a threat was best.

She hit her head against the table top. Killing all witnesses was a requirement of any and all missions. The fact that he realized she was a threat because she was both a witness and knew who he was was good. It meant that ten years of training had not been wasted, he saw a scenario and picked out the problem. Good heero. He tried to kill her. Relena was important now so that wasn't as good but threats do need to be taken care of. Not bad, not good in a way. Failing to kill something he tried to. Very bad.

She watched him from the cockpit cameras, intently studied his reactions. It was obvious, more than obvious. _He's in about as deep as Sibian. _No doubt about it, there was a second reason to protect Miss Dorlin now. She sighed and began to crack the firewalls on the Dorlin security camera system.

After her new charge was sufficiently watched she set about the last mission that was to go through. She checked the database for the layout. It was gone, moved from the potential missions to the missions in effect area. Her mouth went dry. They had sent it through directly!

She had to get hold of the doctors. Impossible, they had all went into hiding as soon as she had left. Which wouldn't be a problem except they all slept and woke at different hours of the day there wouldn't be time to get the information to them and for them to send it to the pilots in time. She had to get it straight to the pilots. It was midmorning where Wufei was, she began breaking his codes feverishly.

By the time she had managed to set a secure line that he would believe was from the missions control database it was too late to inform any of the other pilots. She sent to him instructions to try to stop the other pilots to the best of his abilities before they fulfilled the goal set up for them. She supported it with the exact plans of the set up as well as info on the other Gunams before shutting the laptop and racing downstairs to her plane. An unsuspecting Jaguar whose adolescent drivers had foolishly revved right next to her while she was on the sidewalk coming home earlier donated the new leather seat.

She couldn't fly. Her one big fault among several minor ones. Truth be told she hadn't been trained as an assassin like Heero, or a spy like Duo, or a tactic like Quatre. Wufei and Trowa had learned piloting soley. She had been trained as several things, the main of which was a secretary. Yup, I manage their schedules. However seeing her unique position as the secretary of a particular group of suicidal and extraordinarily unstable teenage boys she'd also been trained in mechanics and fire arms. Not piloting though, that's why she used a plane with vocal commands.

"New Edwards ho!" The engines geared up. She pressed the garage door opener on the side panel and watched as the big metal sheet extended out and up. _Garage doors are so much fun._ Down to business. Who else could she tweak schedules of to aide her charges. There was that Major who'd seen Heero at the military hospital. A Ms. Sally Po. She was currently a good hour from the base, in one of the newer computer based planes. A Lady Une had activated the nuclear weapons on the base. That should be enough to call the good Major to the scene, she forwarded the info directly to the plane's computers.


	11. New Edwards

Chapter 11

She arrived in New Edwards, the town unfortunately built just outside the base's chain link fencing. Her small plane was not noticed and even if it was it had stealth capabilities so they couldn't see it, and even if they did it was the dullest gray imaginable so they would forget. She had both feet out of the cockpit and was about to start climbing down when she spotted the debris that had once been the pacifistic board. _Damn._

She plopped down, not caring what people might think of a fifteen-year-old girl sitting calmly on the edge of a technologically advanced plane. _What went wrong?_ She should have been able to prevent it. Wufei should have been able to prevent it. This was what she did! Was she loosing her touch days into the job? She shifted back inside the cockpit closing the hatch and activating the stealth programming, the exterior of the plane shimmered a moment before disappearing. _Bingo with a capital B-I-N-G-hell capitalize the entire song I found it! _A small organization in the deepest chasms of OZ's structure. 

She opened her laptop. Where had the information for this mission started anyway?

An alternate window popped up. Breaking news. _"deliberate attack from the gundams…General Noventa…colonies want war" _She shook her head, but resisted banging it on the control pad, who knew what that might do to her flight. That was sneaky. Sly slimy terribly clever and sneaky, darn that Treize for having a brain. Noventa…that would stir the masses some. He was well liked. Grandfatherish old general with some weird charm people liked. She closed the window, she could always pull up the full broadcast off the network's hard drives later. Now back to the mission info…

OZ did announce it very obviously but even the gundams couldn't travel the entire globe in two days, their speed was extremely overrated. They all had to be in the vicinity when the news came out or before it came out. Which meant the doctors had known about it and had learned it from somewhere. She easily wormed her way through their codes, they were all so predictable after living with them for how many years?

OZ's Exceptional Scenarios Task Force, ESTF. _Who names these things?_ _And where do they live?_ It was a series of specially trained operatives who engaged in the difficult situations, things like infiltration and spreading rumors. _Damn those doctors for their gullibility. _She watched as Heero climbed out of the ground, the alarms had stopped ringing a while ago. She shot an odd glance at his tank top. _Isn't he cold?_

His lips moved, just slightly. She turned the sound sensors up.

__

"I screwed up. I TOTALLY SCREWED UP!" She studied his picture a moment before nodding sensibly. _You got that right, in fact I couldn't have said it better myself. _ Duo and Quatre were still in the base fighting, if not for long. Trowa and Wufei, _I mean boring-boy. _Were working their way towards a cruise liner that was currently carrying Treize. She blinked at the map several times. _They wouldn't kill him. _ It would solve everything but they wouldn't kill him. There was too much honor for them to destroy OZ's leader in anything but a battle and she happened to know how extensive aristocrats trained in fencing. Trowa had no chance, boring boy had a slim chance.

She needed to take her mind of the latest failure for a while. What could she do? OZ was rebuilding Tallgeese… She aimed the plane towards the Lake Victoria base. _They have the blue prints and I need to do something. Besides, it'll give me unprecedented info on the MS. As well as an opportunity to look for ESTF._


End file.
